Modulation and coding scheme and channel quality indicator for high reliability

ABSTRACT

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for determining a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and channel quality indicator (CQI) for ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). An exemplary method generally includes receiving a channel quality indicator (CQI) from a user equipment (UE) and retrieving parameters from a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table using the CQI, wherein the table has entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at low SE values to achieve at least a target block error rate (BLER). The method also includes sending a transmission to the UE based on the retrieved parameters.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION & PRIORITY CLAIM

The present Application for patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/710,479, filed Feb. 16, 2018, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to techniques for determining a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and channel quality indicator (CQI) for ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC).

Description of Related Art

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

In some examples, a wireless multiple-access communication system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, otherwise known as user equipment (UEs). In LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more base stations may define an e NodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a next generation or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communication system may include a number of distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), transmission reception points (TRPs), etc.) in communication with a number of central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), where a set of one or more distributed units, in communication with a central unit, may define an access node (e.g., a new radio base station (NR BS), a new radio node-B (NR NB), a network node, 5G NB, gNB, etc.). A base station or DU may communicate with a set of UEs on downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a base station or to a UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to a base station or distributed unit).

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is new radio (NR), for example, 5G radio access. NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL) and on the uplink (UL) as well as support beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in NR technology. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices of the disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressed by the claims which follow, some features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled “Detailed Description” one will understand how the features of this disclosure provide advantages that include improved communications between access points and stations in a wireless network.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication that may be performed, for example, by a base station (BS). The method generally includes receiving a channel quality indicator (CQI) from a user equipment (UE) and retrieving parameters from a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table using the CQI, wherein the table has entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at low SE values to achieve at least a target block error rate (BLER). The method also includes sending a transmission to the UE based on the retrieved parameters.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication that may be performed, for example, by a user equipment (UE). The method generally includes determining a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on measurement of signals from a base station, determining a rank indicator (RI) value, and signaling the CQI to the base station, wherein the CQI value is used to indicate the RI value.

Aspects generally include methods, apparatus, systems, computer readable mediums, and processing systems, as substantially described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example telecommunications system, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example logical architecture of a distributed RAN, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of an example BS and user equipment (UE), in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing examples for implementing a communication protocol stack, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a DL-centric subframe, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an UL-centric subframe, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations that may be performed by a BS, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations that may be performed by a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is an example graph of resource allocation with respect to spectral efficiency, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an example graph of a performance-related parameter with respect to spectral efficiency, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication device, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized on other aspects without specific recitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer readable mediums for new radio (NR) (new radio access technology or 5G technology). NR may support various wireless communication services, such as Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g. 80 MHz beyond), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g. 60 GHz), massive MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques, and/or mission critical targeting ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTI) to meet respective quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may co-exist in the same subframe.

The following description provides examples, and is not limiting of the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as NR (e.g. 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). NR is an emerging wireless communications technology under development in conjunction with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in other generation-based communication systems, such as 5G and later, including NR technologies.

Example Wireless Communications System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wireless network may be a new radio (NR) or 5G network. BS 110 may receive, from the UE 120, channel quality indicator (CQI) designed for URLLC as further described herein with respect to the operations depicted in FIGS. 8 and 9.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the wireless network 100 may include a number of BSs 110 and other network entities. A BS may be a station that communicates with UEs. Each BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a Node B and/or a Node B subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term “cell” and gNB, Node B, 5G NB, AP, NR BS, NR BS, or TRP may be interchangeable. In some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of a mobile base station. In some examples, the base stations may be interconnected to one another and/or to one or more other base stations or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces such as a direct physical connection, a virtual network, or the like using any suitable transport network.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a frequency channel, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in the home, etc.). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the BSs 110 a, 110 b and 110 c may be macro BSs for the macro cells 102 a, 102 b and 102 c, respectively. The BS 110 x may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102 x. The BSs 110 y and 110 z may be femto BS for the femto cells 102 y and 102 z, respectively. A BS may support one or multiple (e.g., three) cells.

The wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is a station that receives a transmission of data and/or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and sends a transmission of the data and/or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 1, a relay station 110 r may communicate with the BS 110 a and a UE 120 r in order to facilitate communication between the BS 110 a and the UE 120 r. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay, etc.

The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes BSs of different types, e.g., macro BS, pico BS, femto BS, relays, etc. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impact on interference in the wireless network 100. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 20 Watts) whereas pico BS, femto BS, and relays may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 Watt).

The wireless network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the BSs may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operation.

A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs 110 via a backhaul. The BSs 110 may also communicate with one another, e.g., directly or indirectly via wireless or wireline backhaul.

The UEs 120 (e.g., 120 x, 120 y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or medical equipment, a biometric sensor/device, a wearable device such as a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wrist band, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, a smart bracelet, etc.), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device, a satellite radio, etc.), a vehicular component or sensor, a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered evolved or machine-type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., that may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.

In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving BS, which is a BS designated to serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink. A finely dashed line with double arrows indicates interfering transmissions between a UE and a BS.

Certain wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kHz and the minimum resource allocation (called a ‘resource block’) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Consequently, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 subbands for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 MHz, respectively.

While aspects of the examples described herein may be associated with LTE technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable with other wireless communications systems, such as NR.

NR may utilize OFDM with a CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. A single component carrier bandwidth of 100 MHz may be supported. NR resource blocks may span 12 sub-carriers with a subcarrier bandwidth of 75 kHz over a 0.1 ms duration. Each radio frame may consist of 50 subframes with a length of 10 ms. Consequently, each subframe may have a length of 0.2 ms. Each subframe may indicate a link direction (i.e., DL or UL) for data transmission and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamically switched. Each subframe may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL control data. UL and DL subframes for NR may be as described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 6 and 7. For certain NR networks, such as eMBB and/or URLLC, each subframe may include a subcarrier including up to 4 slots. A slot may be include to 14 minislots and up to 14 OFDM symbols. A minislot may include one or more OFDM symbols. OFDM symbols in a slot can be classified as downlink, flexible (i.e., downlink or uplink), or uplink. Beamforming may be supported and beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmissions up to 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmissions with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to 8 serving cells. Alternatively, NR may support a different air interface, other than an OFDM-based. NR networks may include entities such CUs and/or DUs.

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. Within the present disclosure, as discussed further below, the scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. Base stations are not the only entities that may function as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs). In this example, the UE is functioning as a scheduling entity, and other UEs utilize resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. A UE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, and/or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may optionally communicate directly with one another in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity.

Thus, in a wireless communication network with a scheduled access to time-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2P configuration, and a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one or more subordinate entities may communicate utilizing the scheduled resources.

As noted above, a RAN may include a CU and DUs. A NR BS (e.g., gNB, 5G NB, NB, TRP, AP) may correspond to one or multiple BSs. NR cells can be configured as access cells (ACells) or data only cells (DCells). For example, the RAN (e.g., a central unit or distributed unit) can configure the cells. DCells may be cells used for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, but not used for initial access, cell selection/reselection, or handover. In some cases DCells may not transmit synchronization signals—in some case cases DCells may transmit SS. NR BSs may transmit downlink signals to UEs indicating the cell type. Based on the cell type indication, the UE may communicate with the NR BS. For example, the UE may determine NR BSs to consider for cell selection, access, handover, and/or measurement based on the indicated cell type.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) 200, which may be implemented in the wireless communication system illustrated in FIG. 1. A 5G access node 206 may include an access node controller (ANC) 202. The ANC may be a central unit (CU) of the distributed RAN 200. The backhaul interface to the next generation core network (NG-CN) 204 may terminate at the ANC. The backhaul interface to neighboring next generation access nodes (NG-ANs) may terminate at the ANC. The ANC may include one or more TRPs 208 (which may also be referred to as BSs, NR BSs, Node Bs, 5G NBs, APs, or some other term). As described above, a TRP may be used interchangeably with “cell.”

The TRPs 208 may be a DU. The TRPs may be connected to one ANC (ANC 202) or more than one ANC (not illustrated). For example, for RAN sharing, radio as a service (RaaS), and service specific AND deployments, the TRP may be connected to more than one ANC. A TRP may include one or more antenna ports. The TRPs may be configured to individually (e.g., dynamic selection) or jointly (e.g., joint transmission) serve traffic to a UE.

The local architecture 200 may be used to illustrate fronthaul definition. The architecture may be defined that support fronthauling solutions across different deployment types. For example, the architecture may be based on transmit network capabilities (e.g., bandwidth, latency, and/or jitter).

The architecture may share features and/or components with LTE. According to aspects, the next generation AN (NG-AN) 210 may support dual connectivity with NR. The NG-AN may share a common fronthaul for LTE and NR.

The architecture may enable cooperation between and among TRPs 208. For example, cooperation may be preset within a TRP and/or across TRPs via the ANC 202. According to aspects, no inter-TRP interface may be needed/present.

According to aspects, a dynamic configuration of split logical functions may be present within the architecture 200. As will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 5, the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layers may be adaptably placed at the DU or CU (e.g., TRP or ANC, respectively). According to certain aspects, a BS may include a central unit (CU) (e.g., ANC 202) and/or one or more distributed units (e.g., one or more TRPs 208).

FIG. 3 illustrates an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN 300, according to aspects of the present disclosure. A centralized core network unit (C-CU) 302 may host core network functions. The C-CU may be centrally deployed. C-CU functionality may be offloaded (e.g., to advanced wireless services (AWS)), in an effort to handle peak capacity.

A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 304 may host one or more ANC functions. Optionally, the C-RU may host core network functions locally. The C-RU may have distributed deployment. The C-RU may be closer to the network edge.

A DU 306 may host one or more TRPs (edge node (EN), an edge unit (EU), a radio head (RH), a smart radio head (SRH), or the like). The DU may be located at edges of the network with radio frequency (RF) functionality.

FIG. 4 illustrates example components of the BS 110 and UE 120 illustrated in FIG. 1, which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure. One or more components of the BS 110 and UE 120 may be used to practice aspects of the present disclosure. For example, antennas 452, Tx/Rx 222, processors 466, 458, 464, and/or controller/processor 480 of the UE 120 and/or antennas 434, processors 420, 430, 438, and/or controller/processor 440 of the BS 110 may be used to perform the operations described herein and illustrated with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a design of a BS 110 and a UE 120, which may be one of the BSs and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. For a restricted association scenario, the base station 110 may be the macro BS 110 c in FIG. 1, and the UE 120 may be the UE 120 y. The base station 110 may also be a base station of some other type. The base station 110 may be equipped with antennas 434 a through 434 t, and the UE 120 may be equipped with antennas 452 a through 452 r.

At the base station 110, a transmit processor 420 may receive data from a data source 412 and control information from a controller/processor 440. The control information may be for the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), etc. The data may be for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor 420 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The processor 420 may also generate reference symbols, e.g., for the PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signal. A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 430 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 432 a through 432 t. Each modulator 432 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 432 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from modulators 432 a through 432 t may be transmitted via the antennas 434 a through 434 t, respectively.

At the UE 120, the antennas 452 a through 452 r may receive the downlink signals from the base station 110 and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) 454 a through 454 r, respectively. Each demodulator 454 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 454 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 456 may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators 454 a through 454 r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 458 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 460, and provide decoded control information to a controller/processor 480.

On the uplink, at the UE 120, a transmit processor 464 may receive and process data (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) from a data source 462 and control information (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) from the controller/processor 480. The transmit processor 464 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 464 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 466 if applicable, further processed by the demodulators 454 a through 454 r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 110. At the BS 110, the uplink signals from the UE 120 may be received by the antennas 434, processed by the modulators 432, detected by a MIMO detector 436 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 438 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. The receive processor 438 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 439 and the decoded control information to the controller/processor 440.

The controllers/processors 440 and 480 may direct the operation at the base station 110 and the UE 120, respectively. The processor 440 and/or other processors and modules at the BS 110 may perform or direct, e.g., the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in FIG. 8 and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processor 480 and/or other processors and modules at the UE 120 may also perform or direct, e.g., the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in FIG. 9 and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The memories 442 and 482 may store data and program codes for the BS 110 and the UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 444 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram 500 showing examples for implementing a communications protocol stack, according to aspects of the present disclosure. The illustrated communications protocol stacks may be implemented by devices operating in a in a 5G system (e.g., a system that supports uplink-based mobility). Diagram 500 illustrates a communications protocol stack including a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer 510, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 515, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer 520, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer 525, and a Physical (PHY) layer 530. In various examples the layers of a protocol stack may be implemented as separate modules of software, portions of a processor or ASIC, portions of non-collocated devices connected by a communications link, or various combinations thereof. Collocated and non-collocated implementations may be used, for example, in a protocol stack for a network access device (e.g., ANs, CUs, and/or DUs) or a UE.

A first option 505-a shows a split implementation of a protocol stack, in which implementation of the protocol stack is split between a centralized network access device (e.g., an ANC 202 in FIG. 2) and distributed network access device (e.g., DU 208 in FIG. 2). In the first option 505-a, an RRC layer 510 and a PDCP layer 515 may be implemented by the central unit, and an RLC layer 520, a MAC layer 525, and a PHY layer 530 may be implemented by the DU. In various examples the CU and the DU may be collocated or non-collocated. The first option 505-a may be useful in a macro cell, micro cell, or pico cell deployment.

A second option 505-b shows a unified implementation of a protocol stack, in which the protocol stack is implemented in a single network access device (e.g., access node (AN), new radio base station (NR BS), a new radio Node-B (NR NB), a network node (NN), or the like). In the second option, the RRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530 may each be implemented by the AN. The second option 505-b may be useful in a femto cell deployment.

Regardless of whether a network access device implements part or all of a protocol stack, a UE may implement an entire protocol stack (e.g., the RRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530).

FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 showing an example of a DL-centric subframe. The DL-centric subframe may include a control portion 602. The control portion 602 may exist in the initial or beginning portion of the DL-centric subframe. The control portion 602 may include various scheduling information and/or control information corresponding to various portions of the DL-centric subframe. In some configurations, the control portion 602 may be a physical DL control channel (PDCCH), as indicated in FIG. 6. The DL-centric subframe may also include a DL data portion 604. The DL data portion 604 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of the DL-centric subframe. The DL data portion 604 may include the communication resources utilized to communicate DL data from the scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS) to the subordinate entity (e.g., UE). In some configurations, the DL data portion 604 may be a physical DL shared channel (PDSCH).

The DL-centric subframe may also include a common UL portion 606. The common UL portion 606 may sometimes be referred to as an UL burst, a common UL burst, and/or various other suitable terms. The common UL portion 606 may include feedback information corresponding to various other portions of the DL-centric subframe. For example, the common UL portion 606 may include feedback information corresponding to the control portion 602. Non-limiting examples of feedback information may include an ACK signal, a NACK signal, a HARQ indicator, and/or various other suitable types of information. The common UL portion 606 may include additional or alternative information, such as information pertaining to random access channel (RACH) procedures, scheduling requests (SRs), and various other suitable types of information. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the end of the DL data portion 604 may be separated in time from the beginning of the common UL portion 606. This time separation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, a guard period, a guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. This separation provides time for the switch-over from DL communication (e.g., reception operation by the subordinate entity (e.g., UE)) to UL communication (e.g., transmission by the subordinate entity (e.g., UE)). One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the foregoing is merely one example of a DL-centric subframe and alternative structures having similar features may exist without necessarily deviating from the aspects described herein.

FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 showing an example of an UL-centric subframe. The UL-centric subframe may include a control portion 702. The control portion 702 may exist in the initial or beginning portion of the UL-centric subframe. The control portion 702 in FIG. 7 may be similar to the control portion 602 described above with reference to FIG. 6. The UL-centric subframe may also include an UL data portion 704. The UL data portion 704 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of the UL-centric subframe. The UL portion may refer to the communication resources utilized to communicate UL data from the subordinate entity (e.g., UE) to the scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS). In some configurations, the control portion 702 may be a physical DL control channel (PDCCH).

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the end of the control portion 702 may be separated in time from the beginning of the UL data portion 704. This time separation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, guard period, guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. This separation provides time for the switch-over from DL communication (e.g., reception operation by the scheduling entity) to UL communication (e.g., transmission by the scheduling entity). The UL-centric subframe may also include a common UL portion 706. The common UL portion 706 in FIG. 7 may be similar to the common UL portion 606 described above with reference to FIG. 6. The common UL portion 706 may additional or alternative include information pertaining to channel quality indicator (CQI), sounding reference signals (SRSs), and various other suitable types of information. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the foregoing is merely one example of an UL-centric subframe and alternative structures having similar features may exist without necessarily deviating from the aspects described herein. In one example, a frame may include both UL centric subframes and DL centric subframes. In this example, the ratio of UL centric subframes to DL subframes in a frame may be dynamically adjusted based on the amount of UL data and the amount of DL data that are transmitted. For example, if there is more UL data, then the ratio of UL centric subframes to DL subframes may be increased. Conversely, if there is more DL data, then the ratio of UL centric subframes to DL subframes may be decreased.

In some circumstances, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) may communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Real-world applications of such sidelink communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relaying, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, Internet-of-Everything (IoE) communications, IoT communications, mission-critical mesh, and/or various other suitable applications. Generally, a sidelink signal may refer to a signal communicated from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE1) to another subordinate entity (e.g., UE2) without relaying that communication through the scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even though the scheduling entity may be utilized for scheduling and/or control purposes. In some examples, the sidelink signals may be communicated using a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks, which typically use an unlicensed spectrum).

A UE may operate in various radio resource configurations, including a configuration associated with transmitting pilots using a dedicated set of resources (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) dedicated state, etc.) or a configuration associated with transmitting pilots using a common set of resources (e.g., an RRC common state, etc.). When operating in the RRC dedicated state, the UE may select a dedicated set of resources for transmitting a pilot signal to a network. When operating in the RRC common state, the UE may select a common set of resources for transmitting a pilot signal to the network. In either case, a pilot signal transmitted by the UE may be received by one or more network access devices, such as an AN, or a DU, or portions thereof. Each receiving network access device may be configured to receive and measure pilot signals transmitted on the common set of resources, and also receive and measure pilot signals transmitted on dedicated sets of resources allocated to the UEs for which the network access device is a member of a monitoring set of network access devices for the UE. One or more of the receiving network access devices, or a CU to which receiving network access device(s) transmit the measurements of the pilot signals, may use the measurements to identify serving cells for the UEs, or to initiate a change of serving cell for one or more of the UEs.

A wireless system may support various transmission modes. These transmission modes may include, for example, single-user multiple-input multiple-output (SU-MIMO), multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), coordinated multi-point (CoMP), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), or a modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

In wireless communications, channel state information (CSI) may refer to known channel properties of a communication link. The CSI may represent the combined effects of, for example, scattering, fading, and power decay with distance between a transmitter and receiver. Channel estimation may be performed to determine these effects on the channel. CSI may be used to adapt transmissions based on the current channel conditions, which is useful for achieving reliable communication, in particular, with high data rates in multi-antenna systems. CSI is typically estimated at the receiver, quantized, and fed back to the transmitter to support the various transmission modes. For instance, a BS may receive the CSI feedback from a UE and determines a MCS for transmissions to the UE based on the CSI feedback.

In general, CSI may include any information that may be used by a transmitter to determine which transmission mode is suitable to transmit data to a receiver. CSI may include channel quality indicator (CQI), rank indicator (RI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), etc. CQI may be indicative of the quality of a communication channel from the transmitter to the receiver. RI may be indicative of the number of data streams to transmit simultaneously to the receiver. Each data stream may correspond to a codeword, a data packet, a transport block, a spatial channel, etc. PMI may be indicative of a precoding matrix to use to spatially process (or precode) data prior to transmission to the receiver. A precoding matrix may correspond to a spatial beam that may steer data transmission toward the receiver and/or away from other receivers.

MCS and CQI Design for High Reliability

Certain communication systems (e.g., NR) maintain ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) which provides requirements for latency and reliability. For example, URLLC may provide an end-to-end latency of 10 milliseconds and block error ratio (BLER) of 10⁻⁵ within 1 millisecond. Other communication services (e.g., eMBB) utilize MCS/CQI tables (e.g., Table 1 shown below) that have coarse granularity in the lower spectral efficiency (SE) region (e.g, SE<1) and are not suitable for reaching the reliability and latency requirements of URLLC. For example, the MCS and SE entries used from Table 1 may result in highly inefficient resource allocation for URLLC due to lack of granularity in the low SE region (e.g., SE<1). Additional entries may not be added to the MCS/CQI table due to signaling overhead limitations.

TABLE 1 Example CQI Table CQI index MCS code rate × 1024 SE 0 out of range 1 QPSK 78 0.1523 2 QPSK 120 0.2344 3 QPSK 193 0.3770 4 QPSK 308 0.6016 5 QPSK 449 0.8770 6 QPSK 602 1.1758 7 16QAM 378 1.4766 8 16QAM 490 1.9141 9 16QAM 616 2.4063 10 64QAM 466 2.7305 11 64QAM 567 3.3223 12 64QAM 666 3.9023 13 64QAM 772 4.5234 14 64QAM 873 5.1152 15 64QAM 948 5.5547 QPSK refers to quadrature phase shift keying having a modulation order (Q_(m)) (e.g., the number of bits conveyed by a symbol) of 2; 16QAM refers to a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) scheme having a modulation order of 4; and 64QAM refers to a QAM scheme having a modulation order of 6.

The RAN and UE may employ CSI feedback that is designed to provide highly reliable transmissions such as satisfying the reliability and/or latency requirements implemented for URLLC (e.g., a BLER of 10⁻⁵ and an end-to-end latency of 10 milliseconds). For instance, a set of CQI values providing finer granularity at lower SE values for a given MCS may facilitate satisfying BLERs below 10⁻¹. This is due to the fact that a lower BLER target favors lower SE values. When targeting lower BLER values, a lower MCS value (e.g., QPSK) for the initial transmission may also achieve the lower target BLER at a lower latency. Aspects presented herein provide techniques for providing and utilizing an MCS table and/or an CQI table (MCS/CQI tables) optimized for URLLC services.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 800 that may be performed, for example, by a base station (e.g., BS 110 of FIG. 1) and/or radio access network, for implementing MCS/CQI related-parameters for high reliability, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Operations 800 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., processor 440 of FIG. 4). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the BS in operations 800 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antenna(s) 434 of FIG. 4). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the BS may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., processor 440) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

Operations 800 may begin, at 802, by the BS receiving a channel quality indicator (CQI) from a user equipment (UE) (e.g., a UE configured for URLLC services). At 804, the BS retrieves parameters from a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table using the CQI, wherein the table has entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at low SE values to achieve at least a target BLER (e.g., a BLER from 10⁻² to 10⁻⁵ or less). At 806, the BS sends a transmission to the UE based on the retrieved parameters.

In certain aspects, the MCS table may include entries that correspond to at least one of a modulation order, a transport block size, a target code rate, and a spectral efficiency value. That is, the parameters retrieved and/or determined by the BS may include the modulation order, target code rate, the transport block size, and/or the spectral efficiency to derive the size of the resources allocated to the UE, and the BS may use these parameters to form the signal transmitted to the UE at 806. For example, the BS may select a MCS based on the modulation order and allocate resources for the transmission based on the transport block size which may or may not be derived from the target code rate and spectral efficiency value.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 900 that may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., UE 120), for implementing MCS/CQI related-parameters for high reliability, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Operations 900 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., processor 480 of FIG. 4). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the UE in operations 900 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antenna(s) 452 of FIG. 4). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the UE may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., processor 480) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

Operations 900 may begin, at 902, by the UE determining a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on measurement of signals from a base station. At 904, the UE determines a rank indicator (RI) value. At 906, the UE signals the CQI to the base station, wherein the CQI value is used to indicate the RI value.

In certain aspects, the UE may also transmit its capabilities, to the RAN, indicating that the UE is configured to support the MCS/CQI tables associated with URLLC services as described herein. The capabilities of the UE to support the MCS/CQI tables associated with URLLC services may be included in a flag (e.g., a single bit Boolean) and transmitted to the RAN via radio resource control signaling. The RAN may receive the capabilities of the UE and allocate URLLC resources to the UE based on the associated MCS/CQI tables according to operations 800 as described herein.

In certain aspects, the CQI table used by the UE to select the CQI may have a fixed set of CQI entries. For instance, the CQI determined by the UE may be a 4-bit entry corresponding to a specific MCS and SE combination at a target code rate of a transport block size. The CQI table may have 16 CQI entries including, for example, 15 entries that indicate different MCS and SE combinations and one CQI entry for indicating the UE is out of range of the BS's transmissions similar to Table 1.

The UE may have CQI/MCS tables associated with different target BLERs. Each table may have entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at SE values to achieve at least a target BLER. For instance, one or more CQI/MCS tables may be associated with a BLER of 0.1, whereas a different CQI/MCS table may be associated with a BLER of 10⁻⁵. The UE may select the particular CQI/MCS table depending on the target BLER configured for the UE.

In certain aspects, the SE values of the MCS/CQI tables are selected so that a difference in allocated resource blocks (RBs) between adjacent entries in the MCS table and/or the CQI table is within a threshold limit. For example, FIG. 10 is an exemplary graph of the number of resource blocks (RBs) allocated with respect to SE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, curve 1002 is a function of resource block allocations with respect to SE. In this example, the curve 1002 represents the RB allocations required to transmit a transport block of a set size at a given SE value with a 416-bit payload to achieve a target BLER (e.g., a BLER not exceeding 10⁻⁵). The intersections of the dashed lines 1010 and the curve 1002 form the SE values for MCS/CQI entries of the MCS/CQI table. For example, the intersection of line 1012 and the curve 1002 provides an SE value of about 0.3 with about 104 RBs. This intersection may provide the minimum SE value for the MCS/CQI entries, whereas the intersection of line 1014 and curve 1002 may provide the maximum SE value of the MCS/CQI entries. The difference between the intersections along the curve 1002 may be within a threshold limit. In this example, the RB allocation spacing (i.e., the spacing between lines 1010) is evenly distributed between the minimum SE value (1012) and the maximum SE value (1014). In certain aspects, the spacing between RB allocation values may be absolute (fixed), relative, or arbitrary.

In certain aspects, different combinations of a coding rate, modulation order (i.e., MCS), and rank may be used to reach the SE values along curve 1002. In other words, the coding rate, MCS, and rank may be selected to yield the SE values along the curve 1002 for the given payload, transport block size, and target BLER. These settings for coding rate, MCS, rank, and SE value may be preset to provide a CQI table similar to Table 1 and an MCS table for implementing operations 800 and 900.

FIG. 10 also demonstrates that at high SE values (e.g., SE>1) a change in SE has a minor impact on the allocation. That is, the number of resource block allocations approaches a limit as the spectral efficiency increases. Therefore, a coarser MCS/CQI granularity at high SE values will not have a significant impact on URLLC, which is designed to target low BLER.

In certain aspects, the SE values are selected so that steps in signal to noise ratio (SNR) at the target BLER are smaller for low SE values. For example, FIG. 11 shows a graph of a performance-related parameter (e.g., SNR) with respect to spectral efficiency, in accordance with certain aspect of the present disclosure. As shown, curve 1102 is a function of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in decibels with respect to spectral efficiency determined to achieve a target BLER (e.g., a BLER of 10⁻⁵). Similar to the technique described with respect to FIG. 10, the SE values for the MCS/CQI entries may be selected based on the intersections of curve 1102 and horizontal lines 1110. In this example, the minimum SE value at line 1112 is about 0.4 for an SNR of about −3.5 dB, and the maximum SE value at line 1114 is about 1.6 for an SNR of about 6 dB. The spacing between lines 1110 may be smaller for low SE values (e.g, SE<1) than the spacing for high SE values (e.g., SE>1). In certain aspects, the spacing between SNR values for lines 1110 may be absolute (fixed), relative, or arbitrary. Similar to FIG. 10, different combinations of a coding rate, modulation order (i.e., MCS), and rank may be used to reach the SE values along curve 1102. In certain aspects, the performance-related parameter used to select SE values may include at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio (E_(b)/N₀), received signal strength indication (RSSI), reference signals received power (RSRP), reference signals received quality (RSRQ), or the like.

In certain aspects, the set of SE values are determined based on an interpolation of SE values from an MCS table used for UEs configured to support a different service type (e.g., eMBB) than the URLLC UE. For example, the set of SE values may be determined based on an interpolation of SE values from a MCS/CQI table used for UEs configured to support eMBB services (e.g., Table 1 shown above).

In certain aspects, the set of SE values are determined based on an interpolation of performance metrics from an MCS table used for UEs configured for a different type than the URLLC UE. For example, the set of SE values may be determined based on an interpolation of SE values for the performance at a target BLER starting from a MCS/CQI table used for eMBB UEs (e.g., Table 1 shown above). The performance metric used for interpolation may include at least one of a target BLER, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), received signal strength indication (RSSI), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio (E_(b)/N₀), received signal strength indication (RSSI), reference signals received power (RSRP), reference signals received quality (RSRQ), or the like.

In certain aspects, reducing the overhead of uplink control signaling (e.g., uplink control information including CSI feedback) may enable reaching the target BLER and/or latency requirements implemented for URLLC. For instance, reducing the CQI overhead may improve UCI decoding performance at the BS, which in turn reduces the latency encountered at the BS. This indirectly helps the UE achieve the target BLER As previously discussed, the CSI feedback may include CQI and a rank indicator (RI), which is a multi-bit value and its width depends on the report type and number of antenna ports of the UE. For URLLC, with the lower BLER targets, some rank and CQI combinations are unlikely to be used by the UE. For instance, the UE is unlikely to use a high RI and CQI values for URLLC. This is because the URLLC UE will be allocated more reliable resources and MCSs.

In certain aspects, UCI overhead may be reduced by the BS determining a rank indicator (RI) value, based at least in part on the CQI value. That is, the BS and UE are programmed in advance such that an RI value corresponds to a specific CQI value, allowing the UE to omit the RI from the UCI. For example, a first set of one or more CQI values maps to a first set of RI values, and a second set of one or more CQI values maps to a second set of RI values. In certain aspects, the first set of CQI values may include CQI values less than or equal to a threshold value (e.g., CQI=4), and the second set of CQI values may include CQI values greater than the threshold value. In certain aspects, the CQI value may determine a number of bits used to convey the RI value.

FIG. 12 illustrates a wireless communications device 1200 that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated in one or more of FIGS. 8 and 9. The communications device 1200 includes a processing system 1202 coupled to a transceiver 1210. The transceiver 1210 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 1200 via an antenna 1212, such as the various signals described herein. The processing system 1202 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 1200, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device 1200.

The processing system 1202 includes one or more processors 1204 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1206 via a bus 1208. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 1206 is configured to store computer-executable instructions that when executed by processor 1204, cause the processor 1204 to perform the operations illustrated in one or more of FIGS. 8 and 9, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein.

In certain aspects, the processing system 1202 further includes a receive component 1214 for performing the receiving operations illustrated in one or more of FIGS. 8 and 9. Additionally, the processing system 1202 includes a transmit component 1216 for performing the transmitting operations illustrated in one or more of FIGS. 8 and 9. Further, the processing system 1202 includes a performing component 1218 for performing the performing operations illustrated in one or more of FIGS. 8 and 9. Also, the processing system 1202 includes a determining component 1020 for performing the determining operations illustrated in one or more of FIGS. 8 and 9. The receive component 1214, transmit component 1216, performing component 1218, and determining component 1220 may be coupled to the processor 1204 via bus 1208. The processor 1204 may obtain or output signals via the bus 1208 for performing the operations illustrated in one or more of FIGS. 8 and 9. In certain aspects, the receive component 1214, transmit component 1216, performing component 1218, and determining component 1220 may be hardware circuits. In certain aspects, the receive component 1214, transmit component 1216, performing component 1218, and determining component 1220 may be software components that are executed and run on processor 1204.

Techniques described herein provide advantages to URLLC systems. To improve the latency and reliability of URLLC systems, the RAN and UE may use an MCS table and/or a CQI table designed for a target BLER implemented for URLLC. The UCI overhead may also be reduced by signaling the RI value based at least in part on the CQI value as described herein.

The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the described method. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims

As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and the like.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “step for.”

The various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and/or software component(s) and/or module(s), including, but not limited to a circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or processor. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in figures, those operations may have corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components with similar numbering.

For example, means for transmitting (or means for outputting for transmission) may comprise an antenna(s) 434 of the base station 110 or the antenna(s) 452 of the user equipment 120 illustrated in FIG. 4. Means for receiving (or means for obtaining) may comprise an antenna(s) 434 of the base station 110 or antenna(s) 452 of the user equipment 120 illustrated in FIG. 4. Means for processing, means for obtaining, means for generating, means for selecting, means for decoding, or means for determining, may comprise a processing system, which may include one or more processors, such as the MIMO detector 242, the TX MIMO processor 430, the TX processor 420, and/or the controller 440 of the base station 110 or the MIMO detector 456, the TX MIMO processor 466, the TX processor 464, and/or the controller 480 of the user equipment 120 illustrated in FIG. 4.

In some cases, rather than actually transmitting a signal, a device may have an interface to output a signal for transmission (a means for outputting). For example, a processor may output a signal, via a bus interface, to a radio frequency (RF) front end for transmission. Similarly, rather than actually receiving a signal, a device may have an interface to obtain a signal received from another device (a means for obtaining). For example, a processor may obtain (or receive) a signal, via a bus interface, from an RF front end for reception. In some cases, an interface to output a signal for transmission and an interface for obtaining a signal may be integrated as a single interface.

As used herein, the terms “transmitting” and “receiving” encompass a wide variety of actions. For example, “transmitting” may include outputting (e.g., outputting a signal to be transmitted), signaling, and the like. Also, “receiving” may include obtaining (e.g., obtaining a signal), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), sampling (e.g., sampling a signal), and the like.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may comprise a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented with a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, machine-readable media, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, among other things, to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of a user equipment 120 (see FIG. 1), a user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further. The processor may be implemented with one or more general-purpose and/or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuitry that can execute software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the described functionality for the processing system depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including the execution of software modules stored on the machine-readable storage media. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. By way of example, the machine-readable media may include a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data, and/or a computer readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon separate from the wireless node, all of which may be accessed by the processor through the bus interface. Alternatively, or in addition, the machine-readable media, or any portion thereof, may be integrated into the processor, such as the case may be with cache and/or general register files. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, by way of example, RAM (Random Access Memory), flash memory, ROM (Read Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable media may be embodied in a computer-program product.

A software module may comprise a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media. The computer-readable media may comprise a number of software modules. The software modules include instructions that, when executed by an apparatus such as a processor, cause the processing system to perform various functions. The software modules may include a transmission module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices. By way of example, a software module may be loaded into RAM from a hard drive when a triggering event occurs. During execution of the software module, the processor may load some of the instructions into cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general register file for execution by the processor. When referring to the functionality of a software module below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when executing instructions from that software module.

Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray® disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects computer-readable media may comprise non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). In addition, for other aspects computer-readable media may comprise transitory computer-readable media (e.g., a signal). Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

Thus, certain aspects may comprise a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein.

Further, it should be appreciated that modules and/or other appropriate means for performing the methods and techniques described herein can be downloaded and/or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and/or base station as applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, various methods described herein can be provided via storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or floppy disk, etc.), such that a user terminal and/or base station can obtain the various methods upon coupling or providing the storage means to the device. Moreover, any other suitable technique for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device can be utilized.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication by a base station (BS), comprising: receiving a channel quality indicator (CQI) from a user equipment (UE); retrieving parameters from a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table using the CQI, wherein the table has entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at low SE values to achieve at least a target block error rate (BLER); and sending a transmission to the UE based on the retrieved parameters.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the MCS table has an entry corresponding to a minimum SE value included in a CQI table used by the UE to select the CQI.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the SE values are selected so that steps in signal to noise ratio (SNR) at the target BLER are smaller for low SE values.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the SE values are selected so that a difference in allocated resource blocks (RBs) between adjacent entries in the MCS table is within a threshold limit.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the UE is configured to support a service of a first type; and the SE values are determined based on an interpolation of SE values from an MCS table used for UEs configured to support a service of a second type.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein: the UE is configured to support a service of a first type; and the SE values are determined based on an interpolation of performance metrics from an MCS table used for UEs configured to support a service of a second type.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a rank indicator (RI) value, based at least in part on the received CQI.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein: a first set of one or more CQI values maps to a first set of RI values; and a second set of one or more CQI values maps to a second set of RI values.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein: the first set of CQI values comprise CQI values less than or equal to a threshold value; and the second set of CQI values comprise CQI values greater than the threshold value.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the CQI value determines a number of bits used to convey the RI value.
 11. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: determining a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on measurement of signals from a base station; determining a rank indicator (RI) value; and signaling the CQI to the base station, wherein the CQI value is used to indicate the RI value.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein: a first set of one or more CQI values maps to a first set of RI values; and a second set of one or more CQI values maps to a second set of RI values.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein: the first set of CQI values comprise CQI values less than or equal to a threshold value; and the second set of CQI values comprise CQI values greater than the threshold value.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the CQI value determines a number of bits used to convey the RI value.
 15. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: an interface configured to: obtain a channel quality indicator (CQI) from a user equipment (UE), and send a transmission to the UE based on retrieved parameters; and a processing system configured to retrieve parameters from a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table using the CQI, wherein the table has entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at low SE values to achieve at least a target block error rate (BLER).
 16. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a processing system configured to: determine a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on measurement of signals from a base station, and determine a rank indicator (RI) value; and an interface configured to signal the CQI to the base station, wherein the CQI value is used to indicate the RI value.
 17. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for receiving a channel quality indicator (CQI) from a user equipment (UE); means for retrieving parameters from a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table using the CQI, wherein the table has entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at low SE values to achieve at least a target block error rate (BLER); and means for sending a transmission to the UE based on the retrieved parameters.
 18. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for determining a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on measurement of signals from a base station; means for determining a rank indicator (RI) value; and means for signaling the CQI to the base station, wherein the CQI value is used to indicate the RI value.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication, comprising code that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to: obtain a channel quality indicator (CQI) from a user equipment (UE); retrieve parameters from a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table using the CQI, wherein the table has entries corresponding to different spectral efficiency (SE) values selected to allow the BS to efficiently allocate resources at low SE values to achieve at least a target block error rate (BLER); and send a transmission to the UE based on the retrieved parameters and the RI value.
 20. A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication, comprising code that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to: determine a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on measurement of signals from a base station; determine a rank indicator (RI) value; and signal the CQI to the base station, wherein the CQI value is used to indicate the RI value. 